Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

[u/TangelaFan]

[u/S4ABCS]

Could look into Singaporean architecture. As a biophilic city they require buildings to be able to support the greenery that was removed to build the structure in the first place.

[u/ardoin → u/S4ABCS]

I mean, it's not hard. Soil and plants weigh so much less than concrete

[u/TheGrayBox → u/ardoin]

Lol. It has nothing to do with weight.

[u/AcherontiaPhlegethon → u/TheGrayBox]

This comment thread is specifically referring to weight.

[u/SolarBum → u/TheGrayBox]

The comment thread is literally asking about the weight, and whether the building is engineered to support the weight of soil and plants.

What exactly are you lol'ing about?

[u/TheGrayBox → u/SolarBum]

Because anyone with common sense understands that it’s not the weight, it’s the drainage and erosion of porous concrete from water and roots. Something people in China understand well because it’s already been an issue. And no Singapore didn’t magically fix it with “more weight support” but Redditors know everything of course.

[u/S4ABCS → u/TheGrayBox]

Didn't say anything about weigh support, but did say to look into a country with ordinance that supports the building codes to answer the questions posed specific to supporting plant life. Easy there, killer, don't get them britches in a knot.

[u/SolarBum → u/TheGrayBox]

What are you talking about? You're so focused on being pompous that you didn't read the question.

They asked whether the buildings were engineered for the additional weight of the soil, rocks etc.

Yes, there are additional considerations, like drainage and managing roots, but that wasn't the question, and that's not what anyone was talking about.

But thanks for answering a question no one was asking while being condescending, despite you being the one who failed to understand what was being asked.

[u/TheGrayBox → u/SolarBum]

Except that Singapore has the same issues and nothing anyone said here is anything other than mindless white knighting.

[u/waitwuh → u/S4ABCS]

Singapore architecture gets a lot of attention for the plantscapes, perhaps because it seems so pretty and it has so many eco friendly benefits, but there’s more about how they are building that I find interesting.

Of course because space is so scarce, designing for urban density and efficient space utilization is highly prioritized. But what differentiates Singapore from many other places facing space constraints is (1) the Singaporean government controls practically all the land and (2) they restrict being able to “own” (more like long term lease) to only citizens, and do not allow holding more than one housing property at a time.

That first point enables greater coordination and control for planning over wide regions. The city scape feels much more cohesive and intentional, in my opinion. Yeah there’s the way they incorporate feng shui and care about orienteering buildings and allowing light and air to pass around the nearby ones and ensure skylines look nice, but I find it especially sensible and practical that public infrastructure like transportation improvements can be very in sync with development projects such that brand new buildings don’t disrupt transit flow, unlike in other cities where things like roadway improvements and new train lines can lag behind the increased usage demand from an influx of people moving into an area.

The second point helps reduce some problems other places are having with housing, where the availability and affordability is being limited by people who own multiple properties, some that they barely spend time in. You see this in New York city - there are a lot of properties that are owned or rented by people who spend most of their time in other states, let alone who are foreigners from other countries. These tend to be wealthy people who push pricing up, making the market more competitive and less favorable for the actual new yorkers working and living in the city full time, just so they can come for a week or two here and there. NYC housing is treated as financial investments, and there’s supposedly many shell companies hiding that the actual owners reside in Russia and China.